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Deceased Bernardsville military officer 'left his footprint on this Earth,' childhood friend says

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Retired Maj. Gen. Robert A. Knauff, stands in front of a small arms firing range at the Air National Guard at Hancock Field in Syracuse, N.Y. in 2003. Knauff commanded the Syracuse-based 174th Fighter Wing at Hancock Field from 1996 to 2003.
(Frank Ordonez/Post-Standard)

A combat veteran with thousands of hours flying time, Knauff commanded the Syracuse-based 174th Fighter Wing at Hancock Field from 1996 to 2003, and then commanded the 6,000-member New York Air National Guard and served as deputy commander of the 17,000 men and women of the New York Army and Air National Guard, until he retired from military service in 2009, according to the Division of Military & Naval Affairs.

Cindy Beringer, the borough's Recreaton Department program coordinator graduated with Knauff from Bernards High School in 1971.

"I remember he had a nice red Corvette and played trombone in the school band — I played clarinet and tuba," Beringer said. "We lost touch when he went off to the service, but he was a very gentle person and very intelligent as well. He had a dry sense of humor — you never knew what you were going to get."

"I always had fond memories of Bob," Beringer said. "He really was an officer and a gentleman, he cared for people, and they respected him. He was a straight shooter kind of a guy."

She said at one point Knauff and his first wife, the former Kathy Graham, another classmate, had a piece of land where they took in stray animals.

"They took in two stray donkeys, and they had a blind horse," Beringer said. "They put a cowbell around the donkey's necks so the horse could follow them back to the barn."

Beringer said Kathy Knauff enjoyed working with animals so they took in lots of strays of all kinds.

"Once she brought home a couple of Beagles that had always been kept in cages," Beringer said. "They had never seen grass."

Beringer said that Knauff flew every chance he got, and he liked working on engines, so he built a large garage on his property where he could build them.

"Bob was organized, everything was in its place," she said.

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Beringer said a mutual friend growing up, Chuck Richardson, got in touch with her when a 2010 class reunion was coming up.

"They were looking for a guest speaker," Beringer said. "My supervisor was in charge of the Memorial Day Parade committee, so I suggested Bob. He came down and did a great job, he got to see a lot of people that he knew."

Richardson said that he and Knauff stayed in touch over the years.

"I had dinner with him in October, and we talked at Christmas," Richardson said. "But he's been traveling lately."

Richardson said that he and Knauff ran cross country track together, and that the pair would always finish first and second in state championships.

"He was a very motivated fellow," Richardson said. "I was really upset to hear about his passing."

"I'm kind of proud to know the guy," Richardson said. "He's not your typical high school guy. He left his mark on the world, he touched some 30,000 guys who worked for him, and he made our country safer."

Richardson said Knauff flew 6,000 hours in an F16, the standard fighter jet since the 1970s.

"He flew an OV-1, one of the spy planes that can take pictures of your eyeballs from near space," Richardson said. "He flew for hours and hours in a pressurized suit.

"A couple of years ago a gang of really close high school friends went up to visit him outside Syracuse, which is pretty much Canada," Richardson said.

He said the friends talked about the world, and how safe the country is.

"We were driving down the road and I said, I'd vote for him as president," Richardson said, "They all agreed. That's the kind of a guy he was."

Richards said he never heard Knauff say a bad thing about anybody. And he was so modest he hardly mentioned it when he had gotten remarried.

"He was very private that way," Richardson said. "He really loved his first wife, and his second wife (Tara Howard Knauff) was quite an accomplished writer for NBC radio news."

"He was modest, polite, direct," Richardson said. "There was a little joking around but if you got him going he smiled. The guy left his footprint on this Earth."

Knauff's funeral will be held at 3 p.m. May 19 at St. James Church in Cazenovia, N.Y. with visitation on May 18 at Tait Funeral Home in Cazenovia, N.Y.